It looks like the Lawrence school district will get more than $2.5 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The funds will have to be spent during the month of September, and finance division director Kathy Johnson said the money would go toward paying teacher salaries for that month.

“With the federal money, there comes a lot of extra reporting we’re going to have to deal with,” she said.

The board also found out that the state will not completely eliminate funding for driver’s education. The district will get $50 per student for the 2009-2010 school year, with that number potentially going up another $100 for the 2010-2011 school year.

“At one point, they were going to totally eliminate state aid for driver’s ed,” Johnson said.

New membership for board

Starting July 1, the Lawrence school board will have a bit of a new look.

New Superintendent Rick Doll will be leading the district, and three new board members elected in November will take their seats.

Mark Bradford, Bob Byers and Vanessa Sanburn will replace outgoing members Craig Grant, John Mitchell and Linda Robinson. The new members will join Scott Morgan, Marlene Merrill, Mary Loveland and Rich Minder, whose seats will be up for re-election in 2011.

“Lawrence public schools are very fortunate to have willing and able volunteers who run for office and serve on the school board,” said retiring Superintendent Randy Weseman. “You’ve been a great board to work with, and I’m proud to go out with you sitting at your seats.”